A Sky of Rain

Chapter Twenty-Five

        A hand touches my shoulder, and I almost scream. I would have too, if I had not looked up and seen that it was Leonardo. I look at Leonardo with tear-filled eyes, and his face softens. “Leonardo…” I whisper.

         Leonardo shushes me and goes quickly to work on Adrian, taking my hand off of his wound and replacing it with his own hand. “I am sorry Lyra, I did not know why you called so I did not take any supplies. Mind if I use the ones you have?”

         I nod numbly, and hand over my crossbow for a moment so Leonardo can take out what he needs. He hands the crossbow over to me, and I take it back. As I put the crossbow back onto my back and take out my sword, Leonardo lets out a small gasp. “Lyra…”

         I look up at Leonardo, who is staring at my most recent wound. I shrug. “I’ll survive, just please help Adrian. Don’t worry about me right now.”

         Leonardo looks up at me intently, contemplating whether to help me first or just help Adrian. I sharply look at Leonardo. He sighs, and nods slowly. “Now go Lyra and help Lance. I shall do everything I can.”

         My chest tightens with rage and I grin. “Gladly.” I glance over to Lance and Raine, who are locked in combat. They seem evenly matched, Lance with his swordsmanship and Raine with his expertise with his powers. With me in the mix, Raine is sure to lose. I turn back to Leonardo and give him a small smile of thanks for helping Adrian and coming to aid me so quickly.

         I rise from the ground, and turn towards Lance and Raine. They both watch me as I turn towards them. Lance looks relieved, and Raine looks both grim and smug at the same time. Raine slashes at Lance one more time, and Lance’s sword meets with Raine’s to stop it with a metal clash. Raine jumps away, and then turn towards me with a smile. “Ready to give yourself up yet?”

         I jog towards Lance, brandishing my sword as I arrive. I glance up at Lance and give him a strained smile.

         “Is Leonardo doing everything he can?” Lance asks softly.

         I nod absentmindedly. I would rather not think about it, since there is a chance that Adrian may not make it through all he just went through. Right now, I need to focus on taking out Raine and ending this feud between kingdoms. Lance softly pats my shoulder once, and moves his hand back to his broadsword.

         Raine continues to talk. “This battle is getting quite tiring, so why don’t we just end it?”

         I smile sardonically. “Yes, we finally agree one something. Let us end it now.”

         I hold my sword up in one hand, and begin to focus energy in my other palm. If he doesn’t charge towards us with his sword, I will be able to use my powers for an attack. No matter what he does, I will be prepared. As Raine decides on what to do, I quickly decide myself on what I should do with my powers in the chance that Raine doesn’t attack.

         After waiting a few moments for Raine to make the first move, it doesn’t seem like he will be doing so. So I close my eyes for a second to focus the power I had built up in my palm more precisely. Raising my hand up from my side, I move my hand, palm out, horizontally from left to right until my hand has passed where Raine is standing. As I move my hand down and back to my side, small orange buds rise from in-between the cobblestone, growing off of vivid green stems around Raine. He looks around at the buds, confused.

         The buds quickly bloom into vibrant orange flowers. Faint clouds of silvery mist rise out of the flowers and around Raine. He holds out a hand to try to touch the mist, bewildered. I watch as Raine blinks his eyes slowly, and I give myself a small smile. The flowers are working. These flowers have a special ability to secrete a mist that causes drowsiness, and if Raine gives into it, this will be a much easier win.